Sounders 6, Fire 0: First impressions

The evening followed with a fifth U.S. Open Cup final berth in six years, as Seattle routed the Chicago Fire 6-0 in the cup semifinals at Starfire Sports Complex behind two goals from Andy Rose and Kenny Cooper and one apiece from Chad Barrett and Obafemi Martins.

Here are three first impressions from a roller-coaster of a night:

– Yedlin is leaving, but not yet

Yedlin, Seattle native and Sounders academy product, is leaving the Seattle Sounders. The club confirmed Wednesday what had been rumored since last week: that it has agreed to sell their 21-year-old right back to Tottenham.

But the transaction will not take place until January at the earliest — not until Yedlin and his hometown club make at least one more push for some hardware.

“Our goal is to always position ourselves to challenge for and win championships,” Seattle owner and general manager Adrian Hanauer said in a Wednesday conference call.

For Yedlin, that means gunning for Seattle’s first-ever MLS Cup in a few months.

More immediately, that means playing the full 90 minutes on the same day as your announcement, feeding in the cross that led to goal No. 5 and helping lead the way to another cup final.

– Seattle showed off its Open Cup pedigree

“When we enter something, we’re going to enter into it to do well,” Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said earlier this week.

Chicago has been the most successful MLS club in this competition, winning it a record four times, and Seattle is not far behind, winning three.

For the first half, both sides showed why: this semifinal was crammed with thrown shoulders and elbows, aggressive tackles and hacked-down counterattacks.

The second half, though, was all Sounders. Their effort was personified by Martins’ goal, a sprint past and over the Fire defense in the 79th minute. Cooper poured on his double a few minutes later.

Such ruthlessness helps explain how, on September 16 in Philadelphia, Schmid and the Sounders will play for their fourth title since 2009.

– Rose had himself a night

Rose had already hinted at his threat by the time his 6th-minute flick broke open the Chicago defense and landed at Kenny Cooper’s feet. Cooper sprinted to the endline and cut a pass back for Chad Barrett, who tapped the ball into the net.

Rose has made just two league appearances since May, but he sure looked at home in the midfield Wednesday night.

Both goals came on feeds from Marco Pappa, the first off a corner, the second in the run of play. Both were headed emphatically into the net.

Minutes are hard to come by in the Sounders midfield, but Rose made a strong case for a few more, especially with the crowded run of games throughout the rest of August.